Introductions are Always Followed by Endings
by Grey Highlighter
Summary: Introductions are always followed by endings. In this place, the ending is often swift and merciless. Brace yourself. It's too late to turn back now.
1. A Brief Examination of your Surroundings

There is a dark room.

It's not dark in the normal sense of the word, which usually refers to shadows drifting over grassy lawns and the moon overhead.

No.

Not even close.

This is the kind of dark you can almost _taste_, the feeling of it heavy on your tongue and in your heart.

It's the brand of darkness only available in dreams.

Or maybe it's only in Hell.

Either way, it's the type of darkness that makes you feel claustrophobic and agoraphobic at the same time. It's the type that doesn't allow you to see yourself or anything around you. It gives no indication of how much empty space is around you, whether you're in a closet or a ballroom or something in between and infinitely worse.

So.

There is the room.

It's dark.

And it's cold.

I know you're not supposed to be able to actually feel anything in dreams, temperature or otherwise, (and isn't Hell supposed to be hot?) but this is different. It's not so much feeling cold as it is a _sense_ of feeling cold.

So it's dark.

And it's cold.

And there's someone in the room with you.

No.

Scratch that.

Not _someone_ per se, but something.

Something horrible.

And it's breathing and you can hear it but you can't see it and you're afraid but because you can't see it (or anything else) and the sounds are distorted, there's no real way to know just how afraid you should be. How close is it? Is the something across the ballroom or breathing down your neck? What is it? How bad?

These are important in determining how you react in a well-lit room.

In the dark…

It's something else altogether.

You're afraid, not just because there's something there, but because you don't know what it is.

And that pushes it from horrible to outright Hellish.

Torture.

But you don't know what torture is, my friend.

Not yet.

But you will.

Your suffering is coming.

And you will suffer.

Because this is a place of punishment.

A literal Hell on Earth.

And it's been specifically designed for you.

So hold on tight.

And try not to wet yourself just yet.

There'll be many more opportunities for that later on.

I mean…

Just wait til the lights come on.


	2. Looking at the Facts

And so here we are, in this dark room.

Yes, we're still here.

But we're going to talk a little about how you got here first.

And what's outside this room.

See, a long time ago, there was this town.

A small town in West Virginia.

A town called Silent Hill.

And horrible things happened.

And people were killed.

But no one was truly punished the way they were supposed to be.

And so the town is haunted.

Truly,

Madly,

Deeply,

Haunted.

By things and by people.

By memories half forgotten by the ones who lived them.

But the evil doesn't die with the one who began it.

Oh no.

Because if it had…

Well, you wouldn't be here, would you?

No.

The one who began it invoked a scientific principle with all of the unnatural and disturbing ones she used.

Inertia.

In case you're unfamiliar, my dear friend, allow me to enlighten you.

Inertia basically means that something that is heavy is hard to move. You can strain and push and shove and burst blood vessels and break bones trying to move it and it

Just.

Won't.

Go.

But, once you get it moving, once you've bullied and blackmailed and murdered enough people to get that rock moving…

It becomes really hard to stop it.

That rock will go right past where you intended it to stop and…

I don't know.

Flatten a town or something.

It won't stop until it feels like it.

And by then…

Well, I think you get the point.

So, this town.

It was tainted by evil.

And the evil doesn't stop just because the one who channeled it first is long dead.

Yes.

That's right.

I said

The one

Who channeled

It

_First_.

So, this town is like a predator.

It's lying in wait for its next host.

The next one to channel that energy.

And do something truly…

Heinous with it.

And that's where you come in, my dear friend.

You are something with which the evil can kill time until the one it needs arrives, cradled in the arms of sin and desperation.

So now you know.

You're doomed.

A plaything.

A toy.

Something the darkness will have fun playing with until it's time to do some real damage.

Unfortunately, the things that reside in these shadows are far more…menacing than anything you've seen in your own world. They don't like people.

Actually, excuse me.

They love people.

Unfortunately for you, the kind of people they love…

Are usually the dead ones.

Or the ones that scream the loudest as they have their intestines removed through their…

Well.

I think you get the picture.

So, let's move on.

Let's take a closer look at what exactly lives in this town.

And how close they are behind you.


	3. Tasteful Thoughts

So this room you're in.

I'll give you a hint.

It's neither a closet nor a ballroom.

Be thankful.

You'll see why in just a little while.

Now, on to the true topic of discussion;

The thing that's over there breathing in the dark.

Its breathing is harsh, jagged, pained.

It sounds like whatever it is has been fatally wounded.

It sounds like it's dying.

Don't be fooled.

That's exactly what it wants you to think.

That's just how it sounds.

It's meant to be frightening.

Everything here is.

Just take a deep breath, through your nose if you dare, and tell me what that creature _tastes_ like. Because whether you're breathing through your nose or your mouth, you're going to taste it.

The taste of rot.

It lies thick and sticky on your tongue, doesn't it?

It burns, doesn't it?

It's awful, right?

You want to leave, don't you?

It's really unfortunate that you were snared in this creature's trap.

If your sin resides in your…

Lower anatomy

You can bet this is your punishment.

If not…

Well, the door will open soon.

And you can make your escape if you're still alive.

I really wish you the best of luck.

I mean that.

Because if I'm going to be honest, there's not much worse out there.

But, now, I'm sorry.

Please don't think I'm just trying to make you panic.

That's not my job.

It's his.

So, now that you've tasted the rot on the air, I should probably tell you a bit about what you'd be facing should you escape.

Well, let's just say, to start, that the smell of rot coming off of this particular boogey man isn't anything compared to the rest of them.

But the brutality…

The others don't hold a candle.

In most cases, that's pretty literal.

No hands, you see.

I'm sorry. Honestly, I'm not trying to scare you.

But your pulse is fairly racing.

Your palms are sweating.

You're shaking where you stand.

I know.

It's bad.

But don't worry.

They always say that the anticipation is worse than the actual event.

Maybe it's true.

So, for now, just hold your breath.

And listen to the being across the room breathe.

Slowly

Painfully

Laboriously

It hurts, you see.

Punishment usually does.

What's that?

Oh yes.

Silent Hill is a town of punished souls.

Forever damned.

Even the monsters here are in pain.

The streets

The sky

Everything here seems to ache.

Forever and ever

Amen.

Now, are you ready?

Are you prepared to peer under the bed and confront your boogey man once and for all?

I hope so.

Because this is when the lights flicker to life.

And this is when you see what's been waiting for you in the dark.

And this is when you start to scream.


End file.
